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REPORT 



OP 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 



TO 



MASSACHUSETTS COMMITTEE 
ON PUBLIC SAFETY 



17 MARCH, 1917 



m 



REPORT 



OF 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 



MASSACHUSETTS COMMITTEE 
ON PUBLIC SAFETY 



17 MARCH, 1917 



28 






D. of D. 
AUG 16 191? 






REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

TO 

MASSACHUSETTS COMMITTEE 
ON PUBLIC SAFETY 

17 March, 1917. 

The Massachusetts Committee on PubUc 
Safety appointed by His Excellency Governor 
McCall on February 10th held its first meeting 
at the State House on February 14th, Governor 
McCaU presiding. 

The Committee organized by selecting a 
Chairman and Secretary and the following Ex- 
ecutive Committee: 

Walton A. Green. 
Benjamin Joy. 
Guy Murchie. 
James J. Phelan. 
A. C. Ratshesky. 
Charles F. Weed. 

Adjutant-General Gardner W. Pearson, 

ex-officio. 

James J. Storrow, Chairman. 



Since that date, pursuant to authority given 
at that meeting, the Executive Committee has 
added to its membership Henry B. Endicott, 
and also appointed Mr. Endicott Executive 
Manager. At the suggestion of Governor Mc- 
Call it has also unanimously chosen Messrs. 
Frank H. McCarthy and John F. Stevens to 
be members of the Executive Committee. 

A month has passed since the date of this 
first meeting, and your Executive Committee 
has felt that it ought to ask 3^ou to come together 
to hear a report of its work, and to ask for such 
further advice or direction as you may wish to 
give. 

Get Ready 
We are asked every da}^ by many people, 
^^What is the Committee on Public Safety 
trying to do?'^ It seems worth while to occupy 
a little of your time in answering this question — 
What are we trying to do? The answer to 
this is — ^We are trying to get ready. Get ready 
for what? We might as well use the short and 
ugly word — we are trying to get ready for War. 
Some people think that because war is a Na- 



tional affair, there will be nothing for the State 
or for a Committee on Public Safety represent- 
ing the State, to do. Nothing could possibly 
be further from the truth. It is fifty-two years 
since our National Government had a real 
war on its hands. The man who thinks that 
during these fifty-two years of profound peace, 
except for a little ^ ^episode' ^ with Spain, our 
Government has kept itself in fighting condition 
and ready for a first-class War with a Great 
Power is hopelessly blind to a thousand sure 
indications that we are totally unready. 

It is time to speak plainly. Our Navy is 
25,000 men short of the number required to 
man ships representing a sea strength not over 
two-thirds the sea strength of Germany. Our 
Regular Army is many thousands of men 
short of its authorized strength. This is a 
bomb war, a machine gun war, a heavy field 
gun war. We have so few bombs that it may 
be said we have none. We have a few machine 
guns of the obsolete and useless type which 
jammed at Columbus, and the paltry number 
of 250 machine guns, not designed by our War 
Department, or made by our War Department, 



but made for the English Government, needed 
by the EngUsh Government in her struggle, 
and begged by us as a favor from the English 
Government. We have not a single heavy field 
gun made, or at this time under construction, 
or even yet designed by our War Department, 
within the boundaries of the United States. 

A military autocracy which has made war 
pay in the past, and is plotting against its 
neighbors, can be ready for war. It is not 
strange that our peaceful democracy, hating 
no one, and with designs against no one, should 
be unready in every possible sense of the word. 
Even our last National Congress allowed its 
last day of hfe to expire without making the 
appropriation necessary to enable the country 
to begin to get ready, even though for weeks 
before the expiration of Congress we were so 
near a state of war with the greatest military 
Power the world has ever seen that the line 
may be crossed any hour of the twenty-four, 
any day this week or next week. War will 
not necessarily begin when our Congress meets 
and declares war — it may be started by the 
other Power. 



Total unreadiness characterizes our situa- 
tion to-day, but it is useless for us, under 
present conditions, to waste precious time in 
criticism. It is the duty of every man and 
woman, at once, to do his or her share to Get 
Ready. 

If the military machine of the National 
Government is ready with its administrative 
machine smoothly running and fully organized, 
if our Government has on hand all the mun 
tions and supplies, and a trained and exper 
enced man force sufficient to cope with a g 
gantic military machine thoroughly organized 
before the war, and hardened by two and a 
half years of fighting experience, then there 
is nothing for us to do. We think, however, 
His Excellency Governor McCall appointed 
this Committee of Public Safety on the theory 
that our Government is unready, that we 
must help to get ready, and above all that 
Massachusetts, as in the time of Governor 
Andrew, proposes to uphold the hands of our 
National Government in every way in her 
power. We beheve that our Governor was 
correctly voicing the wish of the people of this 



8 

State, that Massachusetts should at once pre- 
pare to assist our Government, and should 
strive by every means in her power to antici- 
pate every possible demand the Government 
or the times may make upon her. 

Organization of Work 
Immediately after your meeting of February 
14th, when this Executive Committee was duly 
appointed, we set to work to create the neces- 
sary organization. Your Executive Committee 
saw that if the work was to be carried on effec- 
tively and with dispatch, it must constitute 
itself merely a directing committee, leaving all 
the different detail tasks to a series of commit- 
tees, and that it must also have a competent 
executive officer with proper assistants. The 
Committee was fortunate in securing as Ex- 
ecutive Manager, Mr. Henry B. Endicott, a 
man of large experience, and demonstrated ex- 
ecutive capacity. Mr. Endicott has appointed 
as his two Assistant Executive Managers, Ed- 
mund W. Longley and Levi H. Greenwood. 
Many other citizens are also assisting in the 
executive branch of our work. 



9 

Your Executive Committee has now appointed 
sixteen sub-committees to carry on different 
activities relating to our program of ^^Get 
Ready." The function of these different com- 
mittees is indicated by their titles. The com- 
mittees are as follows: 

Finance. 

Co-ordination of Aid Societies. 

Emergency Help and Equipment. 

Food Production and Conservation. 

Industrial Survey. 

Land Forces. 

Naval Forces. 

Mihtary Equipment and Supplies. 

Pubhcity. 

State Protection. 

Transportation. 

Co-operating especially with the Committee 
on Land Forces, and in some respects with the 
Committee on Naval Forces, we have also 
appointed Committees on: 

Mobilization and Concentration Camps. 

Home Guards. 

Horses. 

Recruiting. 

Trucks and Motor Cars. 



10 

We have desired not to discourage, but on 
the contrary to encourage the numerous aid 
societies which have sprung up within the 
State during the last year or two, and many of 
which have fitted themselves to perform ex- 
cellent service. We have seen, however, that 
some of these aid societies were unconsciously 
producing some confusion and overlapping of 
effort. 

We believe that our Committee on Co- 
ordination of Aid Societies is rendering im- 
portant service by getting in contact with all 
these aid societies and co-operating with them 
to the end that the sum total of all their efforts 
shall constitute one well-balanced and pro- 
ductive whole. 

The Emergency Help and Equipment Com- 
mittee consists of a dozen or more of the 
largest contracting firms in the State who are 
getting well organized to cover the State, and 
to assemble a great force of men, engineers, 
machinery, and tools on a few hours' notice at 
any point in the State to reconstruct a dam, 
rebuild a bridge, dig entrenchments, lay tracks, 
or perform any other engineering task of mag- 
nitude in the shortest possible time. 



11 

The Food Production and Conservation Com- 
mittee has been created within the last few 
days, and is devoting itself to starting an effec- 
tive campaign to increase the production of 
food products from the soil of Massachusetts. 

The Committee on Industrial Survey is 
co-operating with the National Defense Com- 
mittee to complete, so far as the industries of 
this State are concerned, the National In- 
dustrial Survey begun under the immediate 
direction of Mr. Howard E. Coffin some months 
ago. This Committee also hopes it may be of 
use to the National Government by acquiring 
precise and accurate information as to what the 
industrial establishments of Massachusetts can 
supply in case of need. 

The Committee on Military Equipment and 
Supplies has been asked to be prepared to secure 
military equipment and supplies for whatever 
number of Massachusetts troops, including our 
State's quota to the new National Army, the 
Government is unable promptly to supply. 
We are sure it is the wish of the people of 
Massachusetts that their soldiers should be 
properly equipped and provided with the neces- 



12 

sar}^ supplies, even if the State has to furnish 
the equipment and suppUes. Our soldiers must 
not be armed with broomsticks nor attempt 
to perform military duty without uniforms, 
canteens, suitable shoes, and other military 
requisites. 

The Committee on Publicity has been asked 
to steer the happy mean between talking too 
much and not frankly letting the people of 
Massachusetts know what their Committee on 
Public Safety is attempting to do. 

The Committee on State Protection has been 
asked especially to consider the more vital 
points in the State requiring protection, and 
to advise the Executive Committee as to 
measures needed from time to time for their 
protection. Among its other activities, it is 
conferring at the present time, as rapidly as 
possible, with the mayor of every Massachu- 
setts city, to obtain his views and co-operation 
on measures relating to State Protection. 

The Committee on Transportation has been 
asked to study the question of mobilization 
and to prepare plans which would enable our 
troops to be rapidly mobilized and to be trans- 



13 

ferred with expedition from one point to an- 
other. 

The Committee on Land Forces, in co-opera- 
tion with the Executive Committee, and in 
co-operation with the Adjutant-General, has 
been at work trying to secure from the National 
Government the equipment needed for the men 
now serving in our State National Guard. 
The task has not been easy. Your Executive 
Committee has co-operated with the Adjutant- 
General by furnishing a large number of clerks 
and assistants who have been working for 
several weeks in his office, in three shifts. 
Representatives of our Committee have also 
made repeated visits to Washington. We are 
happy to say that on Tuesday of this week 
requisitions were accepted by the Militia Bu- 
reau at Washington for additional equipment 
for existing troops to the amount of $200,000. 
In this work we have received the most cordial 
co-operation from the Militia Bureau. 

It is admitted that the training field at 
Framingham no longer constitutes a suitable 
place for the mobilization of our troops, and 
the Committee on Mobifization and Concen- 



14 

tration Camps has been studying this ques- 
tion. 

If our State Mihtia is called out by the 
National Government, our State is expected 
on that same day to bring our military organiza- 
tions up to full war strength, which means a 
sudden demand for nearly fifty per cent, more 
men. Our recruiting Committee has under- 
taken the task of preparing to meet this sud- 
den demand for more men. It is also assist- 
ing the National Government in recruiting for 
the Regular Arm3\ 

Our Committees on Horses, and on Trucks 
and Motor Cars, hope to prove their value in 
case of a mobilization demand for horses, 
trucks and motor cars. 

A Committee on Home Guards has been 
created because the moment our State National 
Guard is called out by the President, we shall 
no longer be able to rely upon our State Militia 
for local protection. We need at once a Home 
Guard to furnish protection within the borders 
of our State. Under our present laws an effi- 
cient Home Guard cannot be created. It 
would not have the right to nor could it make 



15 

arrests or furnish effective protection in case 
of violence, nor indeed is it permitted to exist 
as a military unit. We are preparing to and 
expect shortly to submit to His Excellency the 
Governor the draft of a special act of the Legis- 
lature providing for the establishment of a 
Home Guard. 

Our Committee on Naval Forces has been 
performing efficient service in assisting to re- 
cruit the Naval Militia and in the enrollment of 
the Naval Reserve. It has assisted, very ma- 
terially, United States Naval Officer Captain 
Rush, in command of the 1st Naval District 
stretching from Chatham to New Brunswick, in 
securing the enrollment of all boats suitable for 
patrol work. It has also persuaded a number of 
patriotic citizens to build at once boats especially 
fitted for this service. It has performed other 
important service. Three of its members have 
been officially appointed civilian aides to Captain 
Rush, Commandant of this District. 



16 



Emergency Powers for Governor 

Your Committee has asked its Committee on 
Legal Advice to prepare an act giving the Gov- 
ernor emergency powers in case of war. This 
act, which has been submitted to His Excellency, 
will give the Governor power, among other 
things, to enroll as many special constables as 
he may deem necessary, and to provide for their 
organization. It also authorizes him to require 
subjects of any foreign country to appear within 
twenty-four hours before such public authorities 
as he may designate, and to register their name, 
residence, business, and furnish such other in- 
formation as the Governor may prescribe. It 
also permits the Governor to require further 
returns from time to time from persons so regis- 
tered. It also authorizes the Governor, for the 
purpose of better securing the public safety or 
defense of the Commonwealth to take possession 
of any land, buildings, machinery, equipment, 
horses, carriages, rolhng stock, ships, boats, 
provisions, fuel, etc. Provision is made for com- 
pensation to the owners of property so taken. 



17 



Conference of New England Governors 

Upon the invitation of His Excellency the 
Governor a conference of all the New England 
governors was held at our State House to take 
counsel together on methods for defense. It 
is not generally known that the State National 
Guard of all the New England States if called 
out by the President constitutes a single military 
command or division which will be under the 
command of one officer of the Regular Army. 
This constitutes an especial reason for co- 
operation between the New England governors 
to the end that the six New England States 
shall turn out their division fully equipped and 
properly supplied. It is also true that a com- 
mon plan of protection for New England's 
main arteries of traffic is advisable. The New 
Haven Railroad traverses the territory of four 
States between New York and Boston. A 
break at any point on this line, whether within 
the boundaries of Massachusetts or one of the 
adjoining States, would equally interrupt 
traffic. At this conference the New England 
governors unanimously approved our general 



18 

plan of organization and agreed to form cor- 
responding organizations for their several States, 
to the end that the New England States may 
better co-operate in measures for public safety. 
If a group of hostile aliens should threaten 
Massachusetts, measures for protection would 
be seriously handicapped if they could secure 
immunity by a short journey to the line of an 
adjoining New England State. There are nu- 
merous other matters which require co-operation 
between our New England States. 

Membership of Committees 

In the sub-committees we have endeavored to 
select citizens especially qualified by their train- 
ing or experience to deal with the particular 
question assigned to each committee. This has 
led to the appointment already of more than 
half your number on one or another of our com- 
mittees. It has also led to the appointment of 
numerous men, especially qualified as engineers, 
or as having military or other experience, who 
are not members of the Committee of One Hun- 
dred. The Committee has been obliged to some 
extent, in view of the almost daily meetings of 



19 

many of your committees at the State House, 
to take into consideration the question of dis- 
tance from the State House of place of residence 
of members. 

Local Safety Committees 

Your Committee begins on Monday to take 
steps to encourage the organization of local 
safety Committees in the cities and towns of this 
Commonwealth. In the course of ten days a 
representative of this committee will call upon 
each member of this Committee of One Hundred 
whose city is outside of the metropolitan dis- 
trict, to ask him to assist in the formation in his 
city of a local safety committee. 

We earnestly ask for your co-operation in the 
task of forming these local Committees of Public 
Safety, and we hope in each case that the mem- 
bers of our Committee of One Hundred will con- 
sent to serve upon his local Committee of Public 
Safety, to the end that our work may be more 
harmonious and effective in all parts of the State. 

Your Executive Committee will be gratefu 
for any criticisms or suggestions which may be 
made at this meeting, or which members of the 



20 

Committee of One Hundred may make by letter 
or by personal visit to our Headquarters in the 
State House. 

HENRY B. ENDICOTT. 

WALTON A. GREEN. 

BENJAMIN JOY. 

GUY MURCHIE. 

JAMES J. PHELAN. 

A. C. RATSHESKY. 

JOHN F. STEVENS. 

CHARLES F. WEED. 

Brig. Gen. E. LEROY SWEETSER. 

JAMES J. STORROW, Chairman. 



